Grand Manila is a tremendous literary journey - tremendous in its scope and breadth of vision as well as in its clarity of insight.

The story begins in the 1950s with the lives of five families in Sauda, a small town in West Norway. From here the book sweeps the world, travelling back and forth in time and through generations, back to the Finnish Civil War, through the Kanawha Valley in West Virginia, to Bhopal in the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh, through the entire Norwegian post-war era and across Oslo's Ekeberg Fields, back to Sauda and the Grand Manila Café. As things always seem to, the story reaches its finale in a semi-detached house on the outskirts of town.

This is one of the most ambitious, insightful and powerfully constructed novels to be published by Gyldendal in 2006.

Reviews:

"A superb reading experience for all those who find themselves as much in awe of literary sensitivity as elegance in composition."

Sindre Hovdenakk, VG

"More perfectly formulated and effortless than any Floegstad novel since Fyr og flamme (Fire and Flame). An adventure of a book – an epic of a calibre rarely written in this country."

Fredrik Wandrup, Dagbladet

"Kjartan Floegstad’s Grand Manila is a perfect novel of entertainment with almost indescribable literary qualities. And it’s very funny. Mustn’t forget that. It is an incredibly enjoyable experience to read Kjartan Floegstad’s Grand Manila. Everyone in the whole world deserves to read it."

Trond Haugen, Dagsavisen

"In a stunningly beautiful and effective narrative construction, insights arrive like prolonged roars throughout the text. Floegstad caters for both the general public and the avant-garde of readers, and does it penetratingly and effectively. It thrills me that it is possible to write as beautifully as Floegstad does."

Tom Egil Hverven, Klassekampen

"It is possible to write fiction that is truer than experience. Grand Manila is a consistently good novel, versatile, resourceful and with an incredibly rich language."

Hans H. Skei, Aftenposten

"Floegstad has set out to write an ambitious novel about industry, capitalism, individuality and destiny, and has succeeded."

Odd W. Surén, Dag og Tid

Enthusiasm for Kjartan Fløgstad in France

Reader`s report

Fløgstad-Grand Manila-exerpts(pdf, 38.60 kB)

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